The Raven Rising
by Minodrin
Summary: This story takes place in the future Aviendha saw in Towers of Midnight. The Aiel have been warring with the Seachan since the last battle, for over fourty years. And now they have finally tricked the rest of the nations to join the fight.
1. Chapter 1

This story takes place in the fourh age, in the future we saw in Aviendhas visions in Rhuidean. Specifically shortly after her great-granddaughter, Oncala, convinced the queen of Andor to lead the free nations of the Westland to war against the Seachan.

The Seachan are strong, united and still collar all channelers. The Aiel have been fighting against the Seachan for decades, and are now more skilled and powerful than ever. And now its time for the rest of the world to join the fight, and in the end there can only be one winner.

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He was Farad, a Dedicated of the Black Tower. He was the son of a merchant from Four Kings, and had often as a child traveled to and by the Black Tower, in awe of the things he saw the men there do as they trained with the One Power. It had been the happiest day of his life when, after four tryouts, they had finally found the spark in him, and he had been able to join their ranks.

He wasn't one of the strongest men in the tower, he had trained for half a decade before they gave him the silver pin of the Dedicated and the right to wear the black cloak, and he supposed it would be even longer before he finally became a full Asha'man. Or it had seemed liked that until yesterday, when the M'Hael, Logain, had called the whole tower to a meeting.

When the call came, he had been training on the blasted fields north of the Citadel City. He had been practicing how to reassemble destroyed boulders. When training as a Soldier he had learned how to destroy things, as a Dedicated his job was to learn the much harder skill of making things whole again. He had been together with a group of six Dedicated and one Asha'man when the female warder came running. Running! As if there wasn't a perfectly well known traveling gate nearby. He had laughed at the sweating Warder. His laughter stopped when the warder started telling her news. The Black Tower was locked down for defense. The ter'angreal in the bastions had been activated, preventing traveling to and from the tower for all but those few with the specific keystones. The one hundred and thirteen towers were to be manned and ready at all times, and the Citadel City surrounding the Black Tower was to prepare for a siege. There was going to be a war. With the Seachan.

Of the Dedicated nearby to hear the news, each reacted differently. Uthor, a strong Kandori, fainted. A few paled visibly the more they heard. But some, maybe even most of them, were like Farad. Excited. As he thought about it, he felt in a way as if it was just the thing he had always been waiting for. The Seachan did terrible things to channelers. The women there had been collared and enslaved for a thousand years already, and a few decades ago they had found out a way to bind the males as well. There men like Farad were less than human. They were slaves, animals, maybe less than animals. And everyone knew that the Seachan secretly desired to bind all channelers. After all, they had only two words for channelers. The leashed, and those who must be leashed.

And Farad heard often rumors of channelers falling to the Seachan. Mostly the rumors said that another Aiel channeler had been captured, which was only reasonable considering their ongoing war with the Seachan. But it wasn't uncommon for lone Asha'man or Aes Sedai going missing. It had happaned to one of Farads friends as well. Benedet had been his name, and he had gone back to his old home-town in Illian after gaining his rank as Asha'man. He had never returned, and others from the same place said that he had never arrived there either. And all this happened while the Seachan claimed they knew nothing and simply held to the Dragons Peace. Lies! But now Farad would have a chance to show those Seachan. And he wouldn't have to wait long for his full rank either. Promotions came so much faster in war.

He looked over at the boulders they had been carefully sticking back together, grasped the one power, the blew one up again with a weave of Earth, Wind and Fire. The boulder turned into little more than sand, and Farad wasn't even very strong. Looking at the destruction he'd caused, he felt confident. It only served to reason that the reason the Seachan hadn't begun open war yet was that they were afraid. Afraid of the industrial and military might of the Pact of the Griffin and the Court of the Sun. Afraid of the combined forces of the Black and White Towers with the Aiel Wise Ones and Dragon Blooded. And they were right to be afraid, for each damane the Asha'man released would make the Westlands stronger, and the Seachan weaker. This was going to be a short war; short and victorious.

After waking up Uthor, the passed out Kandori, they jogged back towards the tower. They kept a moderate pace, not slow enough to be arrogant or careless; the Seachan were not to be underestimated after all, but not fast enough to make the common people think that the world was about to end right now. When jogging through the countryside and the city, Farad noticed people cheering them on, wishing them good luck. Some commoner asked Farad to take him with him; he wanted to fight as well. The news had traveled fast. Farad ignored the man and continued towards the Black Tower itself.

The Black Tower was a huge black spire with seven wings at the bottom. Everything was plated with Cuendillar, making the tower practically indestructible to any outside attack. And it was huge, bigger than the White Tower, probably the biggest building in the world. But even with almost a thousand Asha'man, Dedicated and Soldiers standing guard it in the towers and other defensive structures, even then there wasn't one single place large enough to fit everyone. Farad went the hall of the Golden Interest, his own, and found not a single empty seat. He overheard someone saying it was the same in all the other Interests, as well as the Barracks commons and the great halls of the tower itself. As Farad saw still more streaming towards the hall, he decided to quickly try and find a good place to stand, so that his sight of the Viewer wouldn't be obstructed too much.

It took maybe half an hour before everyone seemed to have come, and the viewer turned on. They saw the M'Hael, Logain, standing before them just as if he was there in person.

"Asha'man, attention! One hour ago I met Queen Talana. She said she has proof that the Seachan mean to attack. She showed the Seachan plans to attack Caemlyn, other cities, and other nations. And she showed me how they mean to attack the Black Tower." The last line stirred the whole hall into an angry rage. How dare the Seachan, after how hard the Black Tower had worked to keep the peace and tried to peacefully make the Seachan see the truth of what their empire was founded upon. Not one Asha'man had taken part in the Aiel war.

"Silence!", the M'Hael continued. The hall complied. "I suppose in a way I, we all, knew this day was coming. I made an oath once. To the Dragon Reborn, the champion of light, that the Asha'man would guard the world when he was no more, to stop wars. And you all know how we have tried, and this failure is not ours, but theirs. They are the ones who would not change, they are the ones who would not see the truth in front of them. They are the ones who wish nothing more than to enslave us all, while we have hoped for nothing but freedom for all," the M'hael said while looking around the crowds as much as the Viewer let him. "But, nonetheless, this war hasn't started yet. And no matter how little, there is always hope. So, we will be ready. We will guard, as is our role. We will guard the peace for as long as possible, and when the peace is no more, we will guard the world. But we will not break the peace. Because we have sworn an oath to the memory of the Dragon Reborn. And as Asha'men we will proudly stand behind the word and spirit of that oath, and not try to wriggle out of it like others would."

The M'Hael took a pause, to let it sink into the crowd that they would not be charging with the first wave. Farad felt a bit disappointed. And afraid; what if they lost their advantage by waiting? As a Dedicated he had not yet taken the Dragons oath, though he was meant to live as if he had. He looked up at the M'Hael again. "But if war comes to us, we will not hold back, but unleash the tempest. Dismissed."

The rest of the day the Asha'man spent organizing themselves into battle ready groups. The only exception was the Gray Interest, the meditators and politicans. Farad didn't see much of them, but he heard that most of them had moved to the Gamblers Redoubt outside of the city, and were traveling to places near and far to try and salvage the peace. Farad even heard of Aes Sedai meditators joining the grays.

Farad thought what the grays were doing was pointless. When younger he had traveled extensively in the Seachan lands and the Westlands. As a Soldier he had met the Aiel and Aes Sedai. And he knew that in their hearts, everyone wanted to get rid of the other ones. They were too different to co-exist, and it had passed too long since Tarmon Gai'don for people to be afraid of war anymore. And everyone thought they could win.

Farad wished the White Tower sent them less grays, and more from the Green or Red Ajah. Those were always ready for battle, and it'd be useful if the Asha'man could form or join circles in large numbers. Circles were the one thing the Seachan could not do, so it was one of the great advantages the free channelers had. But hoping for sense from the White Tower was improbable, especially after Logain had years ago let that runaway novice from the White Tower join and train in the Black Tower. Now they had too few females to be of much use in forming strong circles, but too many for the White Tower to stomach.

Farad was sure that it wouldn't matter in the end though. They had over twenty-thousand Asha'man, and even if they had to fight without anyone else to support them, the Black Tower would fight. And they would win. They had to, didn't they?


	2. Chapter 2

Chani checked her pack once more before the train pulled to a stop outside the station in Far Madding. She had one pair of extra clothes, a water resistant greatcoat, a blanket, food, and a whole lot of musket ammunition, grenades and extra firepowder. Exactly what the military rules ordered. She checked her smaller personal pack as well. The book of omens, and more firepowder. She smiled at the sight of the small white bags, filled with explosive fun. She was a grenadier, which was everything she had ever wanted.

The train stopped, the officer shouted a command, and the company begun to disembark. Chani closed her packs, put them one, grabbed her brand new rifled musket, and begun to walk out as well. The weather was overcast as the regiment that had been fitted into the train begun to form ranks. Chani noticed that a few soldiers tried to take the banner on the side of the wagon with them. "The Ever Victorious Army stands for peace," it had proudly declared while they passed trough Altara and Murandy. She understood the soldiers, having the banner with them would bring them luck.

Chani felt excited at being in Far Madding. She'd joined the army because she wanted to travel, see new places, and blow stuff up. And now, after almost half a year of training, she was finally going get to do all three. This city had fallen into Seanchan hands almost two decades ago, after the damn Aiel continuously kept using it as a base to attack the Seanchan from. But the city might be Seanchan, but the Aiel still roamed the plains, attacking Seanchan caravans and destroying Seanchan goods. Chani remembered when she was a small girl, she had waited for months for a special batch of Sharan silk that her aunt had promised to sew her a very special dress of. She had waited the whole spring and autumn until the merchant finally arrived how his goods had been destroyed or stolen, and he himself almost killed by Aiel raiders. They had killed most of the caravan when a squad of raken had spotted them and managed to save the remaining Seanchan. That was the day Chani had begun to hate the Aiel and dream of the army. And now she was here.

It didn't take long for the entire regiment to be ready, and soon they begun marching towards their new quarters. Chani quessed they were on the east side of the city. That was the side facing the Aiel waste. It was good. She wanted to show those barbarians what happened when you fought with the Ever Victorious Army.

The next few days were a bit disappointing for her. She wasn't allowed to enter the city. She wasn't allowed to move outside the camp at all. She wasn't even allowed to train using real ammunition; the damn sergeant said "it is too hard to ferry over 'ere, combat use only". They didn't even practice with real ammunition, they just pretended to fire and reload, then marched about in ranks before pretending to fire some more. And she hardly saw any omens, no matter how much she studied her book.

"This sucks," she said to the others in her tent.

"Did you see another gull shitting on another gull?" Ahne, one of the soldiers, said, turning over to face her.

"Huh?"

"You know, when you always look in that book of yours. I meant, did you see another bad omen in that book of yours?" Ahne grinned.

"No. I mean it sucks being here. Nothing to do. I mean, if we are here to fight, let's fight."

"Why would you want to fight Chani?"

"Huh? I am in the army, right? Armies fight. And we are in hostile territory. Of course I want to fight. If I didn't, I could just have stayed at home making wine. I mean, why are you here then?" Chani noticed that no-one else seemed to care about their discussion. Chani frowned at them, didn't they see Ahne was inciting to rebellion. In her mind not wanting to fight in the army was like speaking ill of the Empress, may she live forever.

"Don't you remember? I joined for the uniform. I tried to hit on you in it," Ahne said, looking puzzled.

Chani paled. She hadn't noticed. Had he done it often? Tried often, she corrected herself. Chani looked closer at Ahne. He did have quite pleasant features, especially after working hard in the army for six months now. Chani quickly snapped back in order though; the man had just spoken ill of the army. She wasn't going to marry someone with doubtful loyalties. "Yeah, I have the same uniform too." _What the hell does that mean._ She showed him three fingers stuck together, the sign for sticking something up where the sun don't shine, then turned over and went back to laying. She'd be more careful the next time she wanted to complain about life in the army.

The next days were uneventful. Chani avoided talking or looking at Ahne, and concentrated on thinking about her explosives. They were all the babies she needed. One afternoon she saw a bug eating another, smaller, bug of the same kind. It was a clear sign of bad romantic relations. She felt glad, it was clear she wasn't meant to be with Ahne of all people.

It was two weeks before something interesting happened. The regiment was called together for inspection, and the officers said that they were going to move out of Far Madding. She felt it wasn't fair she didn't get a chance to see the city, but hoped things would be better next time. Those who had been in the army more than a year had been given chances to go enjoy themselves. In time, so would she.

The colonel said that other nations were threatening the Dragons Peace. The Griffin pact had mobilized. They needed to show the other nations that there was a reason behind the name of the Ever Victorious Army, so they should polish all their weapons, clean their clothes and look every bit the perfect soldier when they marched out tomorrow. The were going to hold Fort Hautein, a fort guarding the railroad to Andor, on the foot of the hills of Kintara. "A show of force will make them back down."

It took them three days to make it that far. The train broke down twice during the journey. Chani bet the Aiel were to blame. They tricked people into stopping where they shouldn't, then cowardly overwhelmed them. She carried a grenade with her all the time, ready to lit and throw at the first enemy she saw. But none came. She heard one of the veterans say that they'd been lucky, he'd been sure the Aiel would attack. He'd been in the same situation twice before, and both times the Seanchan had lost almost half of their men. Chani almost wondered if the Aiel were gone just to spite her, even though she knew that it was arrogance. Even all the omens she saw pointed towards a battle.

Fort Hautein was designed to fit one regiment inside, and it was already occupied by one, so when Chani's regiment arrived it got very tight. Luckily she was a grenadier, and other soldiers always gave grenadiers lots of space. Supposedly they were worried about all the explosives the grenadiers packed with them. She wondered why, she had very rarely seen stuff blow up by accident.

She was hanging around with some other soldiers from her platoon, sitting on a crate filled with cannonballs, when Aydie, Domani woman from another platoon in their company, came running to them. "Now it's happening! It's going to be a war! Pratchett said he heard the captain say the raken scouts saw the Andorans crossing the border and marching against us. In force."

For a few seconds everyone just sat there silently, until Ahne opened his mouth. "So I hear that you heard that someone else heard someone else say they read something?" Ahne laughed.

"Yes! The captain," Aydie nodded.

"If they are marching, then we have nothing to worry about. Don't you know that?"

"What do you mean?" Chani asked. Why else would the Andoran army march towards them if they didn't mean to go to war. It was well known the Aiel begged the Andorans and their Marath'Damane to fight the Seanchan. What did Ahne think the Andorans were marching for then, to hunt deer?

"Every Andoran queen for one thousand years has trained in the White Tower. They have the Kin concentrated in Caemlyn, the Black Tower within their borders and the queen personally knows the Aes Sedai. Hell, from what I hear some of her grandmothers closest friends hold top ranks there. So, if Andor meant to attack us, they'd use their... Marath'Damane to open gateways right inside this fort, and then start destroying us before we understood anything of what is happening. But since this isn't happening, they are not attacking, but just showing us how big cocks they got. Right?"

"Gateways? Are they like lines in the air," Chani said while looking at something curious happening on the square nearby them. "That then open into squares that you see through," she continued, describing what she saw happening in the square. "That then enemy soldiers start walking trough."

"Yeees," Ahne said, looking the same way as Chani. "Shit."

Chani quickly picked up her bag, swung it to her back, then began picking the grenades she had on the side. They were black balls with a small fuse. She picked one in each hand, lighted the fuse using a nearby candle while charging the enemy pouring from the gateways. "Dieee!" she said, throwing the grenades at the enemy massing outside the gateways. She took her next set of grenades while the first pair exploded. Light the fuse, throw, try and pick up more grenades. Those were the only things on her mind right now. And how fun it was, she'd never felt more alive. "Yeah, come get some."


	3. Chapter 3

"Chani, get back in formation!" someone shouted at her and grabbed her from behind. She turned around ready to hit, she wouldn't let the enemy stop her. She paused when she saw the man grabbing her had a Seanchan uniform. A red coat and pants, dark-leather belts forming a cross at the front, three golden chevrons on the arm.

She looked closer at the man. It was her own sergeant. "Huh... ah, yes sir." She quickly looked around, looking where the rest of her squad was, found them to be near the box she'd been sitting on just a few moments earlier, and begun to run towards them.

Something exploded behind her, making her fall to the ground. Her ears were piping, she couldn't hear anything. She looked up, saw her squad still standing, and began to move towards them again. She felt dizzy, so at first she was only able to crawl, but soon she got her hands off the ground and started running, holding her head low. She ran around the line they formed, picked up her musket from where she'd left it, then ran back to the line. Her place was between Ahne and Farahid, in the first line.

No-one seemed to pay her much heed as she pushed herself between Ahne and Farahid, but she didn't mind. The only thing on her mind right now was getting into sequence with the rest of the squad, and then shooting at the enemy in front of her. She glanced to the sides, and noticed the others were loading their muskets. She grabbed some bullets from her left pocket, put them in her mouth, while her right hand was busy trying to pick up a small firepower bag from her right pocket. She always carried eight of each, as ordered.

She ripped open the firepowder bag with her teeth, and poured the powder down the musket-pipe, spitting the remains of the paper bag out. Then she took one of the bullets out, and dropped it down as well. At the same time time she grabbed some cotton padding from yet another pocket while at the same time taking loose the ramrod from the musket-pipe. She quickly pressed the cotton down with the ramrod. Then she picked up a small metal cap, filled with firepowder, from her upper left pocket, and put it at the end of the musket. "Ready," she shouted, even though she didn't hear her own voice. She looked to her sides to see if she was late. She was. The others were already reloading after having fired once. Cursing, she aimed towards some man stepping out of the gateway, fired, then began reloading again. She didn't bother to look whether she hit or not. There was no time.

The next time she was fast enough to get up to the same speed as the rest of her squad. She saw enemy soldiers on the square in front of her forming ranks. A couple were even charging them with swords. "Fire!" someone shouted. _I can hear again, _Chani though. Then a dozen muskets went off at the same time right beside her. _Now I'm deaf again. Ashes._

The next time she'd reloaded she noticed some enemy swordsmen within ten feet of her. She aimed for the closest one. He died. But more were coming. "B...," someone shouted. "What?", she shouted back. She looked towards where she though the sound had come from, and noticed the other soldiers picking up their bayonets. She quickly did the same, setting it on the front of her musket.

"Charge!" the officer shouted, and Chani was glad she could hear again. She, and her squad, shouted at the top of their lounges as they charged towards the enemy. She felt powerful, like she and the rest of her squad would trample the enemy below their feet like grass. One of the enemy swordsmen lay on the ground, groaning. She kicked him in the head while passing him.

She noticed that the enemy soldiers had formed a line, and were aiming their guns straight at her and her squad. _Blood and ashes, _she though as she saw the enemy line fire. But she didn't feel anything. _They missed me, _she though and continued to run. If she'd had looked at her sides, she might have noticed almost all of her squad dead from the volley. But instead she kept charging, and stabbed some man in a fancy uniform. "I got you," she said, pulling out the bayonet and getting ready to attack someone else with it. She never got the chance though, as she felt something smack against her face, then noticed that she'd fallen to the ground.

"No, we got you," she heard someone say before another smack to the face made everything go blank for her.

First it was all black. Then she though he saw his uncle Farahid, which was strange since she was sure he'd died fighting the Aiel three years ago. "Did you know there's a man in my platoon with the same name as you?" she said, but something felt wrong. She felt like she had problems talking. "I blurgh. Huh?"

Her uncle just looked at her first, as she was trying to remember how to speak. "What are you doing here?"

Chani noticed that she wondered at that too. Where was she, actually? She felt like she needed to be somewhere else. She remembered there had been a battle. Had they lost? Was she now dead? She suddenly wanted very much to not be dead. She had to wake up, she couldn't be dead if she was woken up, right? She tried to open her eyelids.

And she succeeded. She woke up, and felt horrible. Her mouth was heavy, and she started spitting things out. Four little bloody things fell out in front of her. _Did I lose my teeth. Four of them. _She looked closer at them, and noticed that only one was a tooth. The rest were the bullets she'd forgotten in her mouth while charging. _Just one. That's good._ She grabbed the tooth, then tried to move it to her pocket.

"Hey look, that one is moving," someone said behind her. She was still lying on her stomach, and felt it was hard to move around. She tried her hardest, managed to turn on her back, only to notice she lacked the strength to look anywhere but straight up in the sky. Her backpack was so heavy. "That's the bitch that stabbed Jon."

"She's waking up. Should we like tie her down or something?" another voice asked.

"What, and waste good rope on a Seanchan? And then we'd have to guard her all day. No, I say we return the favor. She tried to kill us, we do the same to her."

Chani felt afraid. She needed her strength back. And they couldn't kill prisoners like that. Not her. "What did you say Brus? Look, she's a woman. I ain't hurting no woman." Chani agreed, _listen to him, Brus._

"Are you loony. She just tried to kill us. Kept charging after all her mates were dead. She's a viper. An enemy viper. Look, she's wearing a bloody Seanchan army uniform."

"But now she's a prisoner. If you became a prisoner, wouldn't you want to stay safe. Alive, I mean? And I at least learnt better than to harm defenseless women."

"Defenseless? Defenseless," the angry soldier started ranting. Chani did her best to gain strength again, and actually managed to get up in a sitting position. She saw the angry soldier still ranting at the other soldier, his back turned on her. The calmer soldier just glared at the angry one, not saying anything.

She forces herself up, her arms and legs paining her. She wondered why, it had been such a short fight. She quickly remembered the battle, and wondered if it was still going on. She looked around the square, but saw only small groups of enemy soldiers here and there. Then she looked at the two soldiers guarding her. There was a musket with an attached bayonet just in front of her. She would grab it, then use it to stab the angry soldier in the back, then the other one in the chest. Then she'd run away from the square, hoping to find a secluded place. There must still be some Seanchan standing.

She decided that this was the best course of action, but just before she was going to go grab the weapon she looked up and noticed the angry soldier standing right in front of her. _Blood and ashes. I thought too long._ She laughed at the absurdity of it all. She wanted to say some fancy last words, but couldn't think of anything. "Uh. Hi," she said to the soldier.

"Today is you lucky day, prisoner," the angry soldier said, then kicked Chanis left leg out from under her, causing her to fall down. "Today you live."

Chani started to cry.


	4. Chapter 4

Farad walked around the fort, looking at the captured enemy soldiers. One thousand Seanchan soldiers had been captured when the Andoran army captured this fort, and maybe five thousand had died. The survivors had been forced into two large barracks-buildings with a wooden fence between them, forming an closed courtyard where several of the enemy soldiers were resting and eating the food they'd been provided with.

Farad looked closer at the soldiers. They didn't look like the native Seanchan, and spoke with an Altaran or Amadacian dialects. Farads mother had been from Amadacia. He wondered whether he should do something to help them. The wounded Andorans had been pulled back to Caemlyn for healing, but nothing had been done for these.

"What are you glaring at, Marath'Damane?" one of the soldiers, a woman, said to him, and spat towards him. Farad frowned, then turned away. Would they let him heal them even if he tried? And what if he just made the enemy strong again? Better to concentrate on winning the war first.

He walked back towards the small Asha'man unit, housed in one of the still-standing towers in the south of the fort. The fort was a mess; the battle had been just yesterday, and they hadn't had much to do anything other than to move the wounded away. Bodies lay everywhere, including a few Asha'man, and the ground was littered with weapons, munitions and other supplies. Farad had already learned how to read the battlefield.

He walked over the parade ground, the sand there turned to red mud from blood. It had been a horrible choice to form gateways to, it had been filled with armed and resting Seanchan soldiers, and the fort wall ran right beside it, allowing the enemy up there to fire downwards for a very long time. Now there were six huge piles of corpses on it. He walked southwards between two former buildings. Apparently the Seanchan had tried to form a line there, only for some Asha'man to blow up the buildings on the sides on top of them. Now a path had been cleared, but bodies still stuck out of the piles of bricks on the sides. Then he turned left and walked past a bunch of splintered body-parts of Andoran soldiers, the Seanchan must have thrown grenades from the buildings above as it didn't look like the kind of damage the one-power would do.

Then he turned right again, to a small square, where a bunch of dead Seanchan lay in a perfect line, weapons still in their hands. A failed charge. As he walked southwards he saw that the battle had gone well here, many dead Seanchan, few Andorans. A couple times he saw dead Asha'man as well, chaotic situations means the channelers were vulnerable as well. And all over the fort he saw groups of Andoran soldiers in box-formations, ready to attack in any direction whatsoever should the Seanchan try to take back the fort.

It was hell, not knowing when or if the enemy would attack until the moment you saw a gateway open up in front of you. Farad wished they had more of the ter'angreal used at the Black Tower to prevent gateways.

Farad finally came to the tower, a smaller one on the south wall, with a large square outside. He stepped in. There had been three floors in the tower before, but the wooden bens that supported the upper floors had been destroyed in the battle, causing the upper floors to fall down. The Asha'man had used the one power the get the broken wood away, and now the tower was one singular, and very tall, room. The only windows were small ones at the former upper-levels, but one of the Soldiers had formed a weave of Fire and Air to light up the room. The Asha'man Tsorovan'm'hael, or Storm Leader, Paetrick, sat at his table opposite the door, reading something, to the left some Asha'man and Soldiers lay resting towards the wall, while on the right another group was working on a former damane, a male.

Farad walked towards the group with the damane. "Have you managed to talk some sense into him?" he said while looking at the damane kneeling face down in front of them. He'd heard the Seanchan broke people, but he'd never really understood what it meant until they saw this damane here. His handler had died during the battle, and the damane had just lain on the ground, crying, when the Asha'man found him. The damane had tried to fight them when they took the collar off, and afterwards done nothing but ask for the collar back. _Well, that and say how sorry he is._ He hadn't figured out what the damane was so sorry about though.

"Not yet," said Joel, one of the Dedicated. "We did get a reaction when we said that his... sul'dam could channel as well. Tried to bite me he did. I had to push him off with the a weave. Said we was liars."

Makahir, an Asha'man, and leader of the group, nodded at that. "This is a good thing. You remember Hanson's book on freeing damane? He has reacted to the knowledge that the sul'dam can channel. He is not asking to be put down. All within 24 hours. That means he should be a productive member of our society within a month. The key is to make him remember who he was before he was leashed." Makahir sat down on the ground in front of the damane, turning over so he could see the damanes face. "Do you remember your name?"

"Pompom," the damane said.

"No, the name you had before. Do you remember when you were little, what was your name then?"

"Pompom," the damane started to cry.

"No, it wasn't always that. What did your mother call you. What did your father call you. You do remember them, don't you. Remember!"

"No, please don't hurt me anymore. Pompom, pompom, pompom," the damane curled up even closer.

Makahir stood up. Farad felt sick. Would that happen to him if he was captured? He'd rather die. "I think we should bring him someplace else. Something common, like a farmhouse. It might help bring him back his memories. Does anyone of you know a good place like that?"

One of the Soldiers nodded, said he was from a village in Cairhien. His parents still lived there, and there was extra room in the house. Makahir went over to the Asha'man commander at the desk and exchanged some words. Both nodded, the Makahir came back. "Yeah. You go there with Dedicated..." he said, looking around at the Asha'man Dedicated, before finally deciding on Farad, "Farad al'Kallor. You keep him there, try to learn his name, get him to talk about himself. Make him remember he is a person, you know. Dedicated Farad, you taken the damane-lessons yet?"

Farad nodded. "Asha'man Hanson had lessons. You know, the the first course. But, uh, do you think that's enough?" Farad looked down at the damane. In a way, he wanted to help the man. But on the other hand, every time he looked at him he felt sick at the thought of that happening to him.

"I'll tell the experts at the Black Tower about you. Someone will come, and then he'll decide what's the best way to help Po... this man here. It should take a couple days, maybe a week. You just concentrate on helping his memory, self confidence, and showing him the truth as much as possible. And make sure he doesn't hurt himself, keep someone awake and beside him at all times. Both of you if possible. Right?"

Farad and the Soldier, Kimmo, nodded. Farad thought Kimmo seemed pleased, Farad supposed he was happy to go and see his parents. There was never enough time at the Black Tower. Now with this war here, who knew if there ever would be another chance?

The officer at the desk stood up and coughed. All the Asha'man moved to stand in attention, facing him. "Did you give the orders about the damane yet Makahir?"

"Yes, Storm Leader."

"Good. Then we have done everything we can around here. The Andoran mean to hold this place, so I have decided that Soldier Donostia should stay behind here. Your job is to get back to Caemlyn if this place is attacked and make sure people know. So make sure you are always rested enough to travel, and stay in places you know well enough to make gateways," he said while looking at Donostia. "The rest of you, General Bronze wants to move the prisoners to Southwood work-camp. You go to the holding-area commander, Bryne I think his name was, and let him use you to make gateways there. Then you return here and we move out. Understood."

"Understood, Storm Leader," everyone shouted in unison. Everyone began to move out, except Asha'man Paetrick and Makahir, and Farad and the Soldier Kimmo. The storm leader asked what they were waiting for, the Asha'man officers would guard the damane while the others were doing there duties. Farad and Kimmo quickly ran out.

It didn't take long to find the holding-area commander. All they had to do was walk to the holding areas, look at where the biggest amount of Andorans ran about, then go the center of it all. All the other Asha'man were already there.

"That all of you?" the commander asked. Almost without waiting, he continued "Right, make one of em gate-squares. Make it inside the compound so they don't get a chance to run. My guys go through first, half of em. Then the prisoners, then the rest of my boys go through. Make it open at the designated place in Southwood holding."

No-one of the Asha'man said anything. Farad looked at the others, trying to see if someone would talk first. Gruber, one of the Dedicated, spoke up. "Commander, it doesn't work like that. We can only open a gateway from someplace we know. And by that I mean someplace we have spent long enough in, or studied really hard. And we need to know the place we are trying to travel to as well. Not as well, but if we bored a gateway without any foreknowledge it might end up anywhere, above or below ground and not anywhere close that we want it."

The commander looked at the Asha'man, trying to understand the situation. "Well, that might be one solution," he sighed. "All right, from where can you make a gateway then?"

"Well, I know the area around that tower we took pretty well. I suppose it's the same for everyone else," Gruber said, looking at the others. The others nodded, they knew that place well enough. One of the first things they learned as Soldiers was to learn at least one spot well enough that they could use it for traveling. After a few years it was almost natural.

The commander nodded. "Then we march the prisoners there. There'd be the same problem if we had to march them by land anyway. So, do you know the place? I have a map."

"Maps no good. We have to see it in our minds. We must have been there in one way or another," Gruber said.

"Can we see that map though," Farad said. "Maybe someone of us knows a place nearby." He had traveled around with his father when younger. He was sure he knew most of Andor.

The commander sighed and pulled out a map from his pocket. He lay it down on the ground, using some stones to keep it open. He bent down and pointed, "there."

Farad and the others looked closer at the map. Some of them just shook their heads and rose up again, but Farad and two others kept looking. "I know those three villages," Farad pointed at the map. The others looked closer at the map. "Is that the one with the silver-painted queen in the middle?" one of them asked. Farad nodded, and after a few short words they all decided that they knew that village well enough to form gateways to. Roslyn.

They decided to form the gateways near one of the roads leading into the village. It'd be easier for the Andoran soldiers to keep control of the large number of prisoners there. They'd try and form the gateways some ways apart; that way there would be less chance of any weaves overlapping each other, and with a thousand prisoners there'd be too much crowding if they tried to form all the exit-gateways right by each other.

They talked with the commander who promised to have the prisoners in a line within an hour. Farad and the two others weren't particularly strong, one of them could create a gateway big enough for two people to walk through side-by-side, while Farad and the other could only make them big enough for a single man. The commander seemed annoyed at the time it would take, but if he didn't like it, then he could bloody well learn to channel himself, Farad thought.

An hour later the Asha'man and a whole lot of Andoran soldiers were ready outside the southern tower. The Seanchan had formed four very long lines. Some of them stood tall and proud, looking like they were planning to march in a victory parade instead of to a work-camp for prisoners. Many didn't seem to care about anything at all, while a few were crying. A couple were trying to bribe some Andoran soldier to take them, or to let him join them. Farad thought it was pathetic, were these the soldiers they had been so afraid of?

It would take a long time to get all the prisoners through the gateways. They weren't strong enough to hold a gateway open constantly, so the three of them with have to open a gateway first, then tie it off, which would keep it open by itself for a while. Farad guessed that maybe 50 would get through before they would have to let it close. Then they'd need to have a one-minute pause; the Asha'man didn't know the destination well enough to guarantee the gateways would open at exactly the same place, so they'd need to let the people on the other side move away a bit before opening the next gateway.

The holding-area commander walked up to the Asha'man Storm-Leader. They said something to each other, the holding-area commander walked away. "Asha'man. Open." the Storm-Leader said.

Farad grasped the one power, feeling full of life. He savored the feeling for a few moments before beginning to weave the gateway for traveling. He concentrated, trying to remember the place. He tried not to stand very close to the gateway as it opened; he had once seen someone weave a gateway that accidentally opened straight into a cow. The Dedicated who'd weaved it had freaked out as the blood and gore had flown right on his face.

The gateway opened, and nothing unusual seemed to fall out through it. Farad walked over to have a look and make sure there wasn't any tree or other obstacle right on the other side. It seemed he had made it open closer to the forest than he'd meant to. _Maybe it's new growth._ "Ready," he shouted.

First a squad of Andoran guardsmen walked through, then the prisoners. Men and women, some he though he had seen in the compound. Well, he wouldn't have to care about them after today.


	5. Chapter 5

Chani stepped through the gateway, and at once tried to see if there was any chance of running away. They were on a field with waist-high wheat growing there. It wasn't high enough for her to disappear in. She silently cursed the fact that she'd kept her helmet. It was a foot tall, with a plume on top adding another foot to the length. It was comfortable and looked impressive in a battle-line, but it wasn't very useful if you wanted to sneak away. not so much when trying to sneak away. And now she'd look suspicious if she got rid of it.

"Right all you dolts, walk slowly this way. No sudden moves, that way everybody stays happy," an Andoran sergeant shouted at the Seanchan. He waived his hands in the direction he wanted them to move. Chani went along. "Keep it up. The Asha'man will open up his second gateway soon, and you don't wanna be sliced up by it, do you."

_Another gateway? _Chani looked back, and saw the gateway she'd stepped through missing. So, the Marath'Damane couldn't keep it open all the time. She started counting, trying to figure out how long the pause between the gateways being open was. It might be useful to know.

Chani had counted to fifty when the gateway opened again. With the time she'd missed before she noticed it had closed, she supposed that meant it'd be gone for a minute, maybe more. She noticed only Seanchan stepping through the gateway this time, no guards. While looking at it, someone behind her whispered to her. "When the gateway closes again, we attack."

She quickly turned around, but whoever had talked was already gone. It had been a mans voice, and she saw a male sergeant walking away from her. The sergeant passed at someone else, whispered something, then moved on again. That had to be him. And she didn't think it was a trick, why would the Andorans do anything like that. Chani tried to size up the situation. There were twelve guards and maybe seventy Seanchan. A couple hundred yards away, by a road, there was another group of prisoners stepping out from a gateway. The forest nearby was half that distance away. Yes, it might work.

She bent down as if to tie her shoe, trying to find something useful to attack the guards with. She'd hoped for a rock, or fine sand to throw in the eyes, but the only things down there were thick soil and some hay. She did her best to get a fistful of soil in her hand. It was hard. _Damn solid ground._

While trying to pick up as much soil as possible, she kept glancing towards the gateway. Suddenly it was gone. _Now, _she though, screamed, and launched herself at the closest guard. She threw the soil at him, attempting to hit his eyes. She missed, but the soldier blinked, and before he could react she was right beside him.

"Wha..." the man started to say. Chani kicked him between the legs, then grabbed the musket from his arms. She stepped back, and swung hard at his face with the butt of the musket. The guard fell down screaming. When the man had fallen down, Chani hit him in the face one more, hitting downwards with the butt of the musket. She heard a horrible crunching sound as the hard wood sank into the mans head, and wondered if she'd been too violent. _But I have to be sure he stays down._

She kneeled down, turned towards where she remembered the second nearest guard had been, and brought her musket up, ready to fire. The man was aiming at her. She pulled the trigger out of pure reaction, and missed. The other guard lost his concentration though, and didn't get a chance to return fire before another prisoner jumped on top of him, causing them both to fall over.

She wondered about what to do next. Reload or run? Someone ran up to her. "Why the hell'd you do that? Now they noticed us up there," the older female corporal said. The gunshot must have been heard a mile away.

"But he was aiming at me."

"Bah. Give me that," she grabbed the musket from her. "Get to the others, and run towards the forest," she said while starting to loot the guard Chani had attacked. The guard was still alive, holding his hands to his face. He was shouting out in pain. The corporal grabbed a knife from the guards belt, then stabbed him in the heart with it.

Chani's jaw dropped. "Holy shit, you killed him," she said, staring as the guard started to flay around horribly with his hands.

"They'd have healed him. Now he won't be returning to fight us again," the corporal looked up at her, "And what are you waiting for?" she said, grabbing a few last things from the still dying guard. "Run."

Chani might have just remained there on the ground if the corporal hadn't dragged her up. She was in chock. She'd killed people too. At least she thought she had during the battle. But it was cold to stab a broken man with his own knife.

She started to run faster than she'd ever run in her entire life. The only thing on her mind right now was getting as far away from all of this as possible. She wanted to run all the way home. Soon the gateway would open again, and one of the Marath'Damane would step through, full of anger. She needed to get away.

She saw some of the soldiers had stopped at the edge of the forest. She didn't, but kept on running. She ran until she she stumbled on some root, then just lay there on the ground, sobbing. She kept seeing and hearing the last moments of the guard she'd attacked. He'd been pretty. She'd crushed his face.

She didn't know how long she was there, but after some time someone came up to her. She screamed, but it was only another soldier, a man. He had been from her company, but she didn't know his name. He pulled her up from the ground, and asked if she was all right. She threw up, right on his boots. "Sorry."

The man stepped away, and tried to wipe his boot on the trunk of a nearby tree. "Don't worry about it. I saw how you charged that man all alone. It made the rest of us attack them too. You sav... you did a good job there. You are far braver than me, no-one 'll think less of you just because you threw up. And, uh, I won't tell."

She looked up. Had she started it all? But what about the sergeant who talked to her? Maybe this soldier here just hadn't got the message like she did. "It was nothing. I was just following orders. But thanks," she rose up. She felt better. She'd saved the entire group of soldiers. _Yeah. _"I forgot, what was your name again. I'm Chani Ratlah. I think we are from the same company? 94th reg, 3rd battalion, grenadier-company."

It took a while for the man to answer. "That was my brother. We looked the same. He, um, never mind. I'm Afidnes Afidnesora. And I've already heard all the comments. About my name, that is." Afidnes looked around. "I think the rest of them are that way," he pointed into the forest. "We were jogging into the forest when I noticed you. The others are already on their way, so we should get going."

Chani felt angry. The others had just left her, after what she'd did for them. She'd been the first to attack the guards. That meant she was the first one of them to become a soldier again. And she'd never leave someone behind like they had left her. "You run first. You know better which way they went."

Afidnes started to run while looking backwards to make sure she came as well. She was thankful that someone had stopped for her at least. She wondered what she would have done if she'd ended up all alone. She realized she didn't have any idea about where they were. While running she glanced nervously on the trees. The Aiel were masters of hiding in any terrain and being where you didn't expect them to be. She wished she had her grenades with her.

Queen Talana looked at the huge map spread out on the floor in front of her. Six enemy forts had been captured and two troop-trains destroyed. That meant almost forty-thousand Seanchan dead or captured, including fifty damane, while her losses were less than ten thousand. A few had supposedly escaped, but small hiccups like were inevitable. Everything was going just the way she wanted it to.

She was in one of the large rooms in the palace of Caemlyn. Her generals had advised against staying in the capital, but what would the people think if the queen fled while leaving them behind. It simply would not do. They had come up with this plan, and the plan had suited her interests well enough for her to accept it. Now it was time to think of the next step.

"Has the King of Murandy been brought into protection yet?" That action had been her only own addition when they prepared for the war four days ago. Those damn Murandians had let the Seanchan move freely through their lands. They probably thought they were very clever by trying to be friends with all three sides, the Seanchan, the Griffin Pact, and the Aiel. In her eyes it just made them untrustworthy, and she needed them all in her hands right from the start. There could be no neutral Murandy in this war.

"Yes. He wishes to see you. He was very... verbal about it," General Green said.

"He can wait. Give him respect, but keep him sweating," she said. General Green nodded, and she waved him off. "Now, about your plans, they do not please me," she walked on top of the map, and picked up a few of the figures off it. "You put far too much stock in defending the Two-Rivers area and Ghealdean. Instead, reinforce Murandy and make sure we secure the plains of Maredo fast. I want Far Madding quickly. We can't have thousands of channelers doing logistics duties, we need to have the trains between the here and the cities in the south running on time."

The generals nodded. One of them, Redwine, spoke up however. "But wouldn't it still be better to use some of those troops to secure the west? Murandy is closer to Caemlyn aye, but with traveling distances don't mean that much anymore. But the quality metal they dig in the west are vital to us. And don't forget the gunpowder factory they have there, it's produces almost as much as the rest of the country altogether. "

"We can live without it, there's plenty of metal up in the former blight, practically waiting to be picked up. Our gunpowder-reserves are large, and we can capture what we need from the Seanchan it seems like to me." Why did Redwine dare speak up. "And the land-route is still important. There's a reason we still have trains and carriages. The whole world can't be Caemlyn, you know. They had many channelers here, working under royal commission to have constant gateway-contacts with much of the world. It was easy to believe the rest of the world had the same possibilities to use channelers. "Besides, I'm sure this Aybara fellow there can take care of himself, that's what he has been doing since my grandmothers days."

She walked off the map. "Now, I have decided what I have decided. We defend Murandy, and take out Far Madding. The western areas can be taken care of later should anything happen there." The generals voiced their agreement. Pleased, Talana left for her quarters. She smiled. Finally she could restore some order in the Two-Rivers. Those damn fools there had never been particularly loyal, refusing royal tax-bearers and magistrates. And Ghealdean was the rock from which had defied her time and time again. The whole Two-Rivers-Ghealdean agreement was absurd, a royal house acting as if they were vassals of a family of stewards. And it felt like every time she tried to concentrate on something other than keeping them loyal, they raised the flag of old Manetheren, only to take it down again when she had marched her forces halfway there.

Well, now she would fix this problem. She'd give the Seanchan one logical choice of attack. They'd move in where the resistance was least, first into Ghealdean, then in the Two-Rivers. Their want to attack the Two-Rivers would only be fueled by their desire to take those mines and that factory. And when that happened, Steward Aybara would have to come to her and beg for help. And she would, but only after dismissing him from his post, for failing in his duties to protect her lands. Then, when she took back the Two-Rivers, it would make the population there respect her, and she could put someone compliant in charge.

Yes, it was a good day to be the Queen.


	6. Chapter 6

Chani and the other soldiers were on top of a wooded ridge, overlooking a large and lonely farm. They were seventy-two in total, they had been walking through forests and swamps for three days already, and they were all miserable. They were dirty. They didn't have the tools or weapons needed to hunt and catch anything, so they were hungry. And most were sick from drinking swamp-water when there was nothing else. Chani felt more water came up and out of her mouth than she had been able to put in.

And then they had found the farm. Golden fields, cows, sheep, chickens, clean water, fireplaces and everything one could wish for were within their grasp, all in a conveniently secluded farm. An enemy farm, as one of the corporals had pointed out. Chani smacked her lips.

Her corporal came beside her and the four others in her newly formed squad. Her corporal was the same corporal she'd met the day she escaped, the one who'd stabbed the Andoran guard. They'd never met before that.

"All right, you all think you know that place about now?" the corporal asked, speaking very silently.

Chani nodded, as did the rest of the squad. The corporal signaled for them to pull back, Chani noticed most of the other soldiers on the ridge doing the same. The sun was low on the horizon, but it was still light. It was best not to risk the farmers noticing the soldiers. Even though the farm seemed secluded, it was impossible to say if a village, town or fort might be just around the next bend, and they didn't want anyone on the farm to run for help. While sneaking down Chani noticed a leaf that had fallen and gotten impaled on a small tree. It was an omen of the mighty devouring the small. She supposed it was a good omen, they were the Seanchan Empire after all. She smiled, trying to convince herself.

Once they were all down, the corporal ordered the squad to gather around her. "Once the sun goes down we wait half an hour. Then we move in, first and second platoon take over the house, third platoon secures the road leading there." After escaping the highest-ranking officer, a major, had formed a new organization. They were now a company with three platoons, each platoon having four squads. They were now the first squad in the second platoon. "You saw that long house on the northern side, the servants building." Chani nodded. That's where the plumpest chickens had been. "That is our goal. We go in with the second and third squad, fourth will check out the, you know, place where they keep their grain and animals."

"The granary and barn?" Chani asked. The corporal was from Ebou Dar, apparently they didn't come into contact with normal life there.

"Yes, whatever," the corporal glared at Chani for an eyeblink, before returning to face the squad in general "First platoon takes the main farmstead... house. They get three guns, we get three. That means private Afidnes will be holding it," she said while pointing at Afidnes, just in case Afidnes had forgotten his name. "But don't shoot unless there is no other choice. We don't want to use violence, and we don't want attraction." They all knew how far a single gunshot could be heard.

"I'm a good shot. I can do it," Chani said. _Guns!_

"No. You just use that stick of yours to hold them in line," she said to Chani, referring to the branch she'd found in the forest and sharpened with a stone into a makeshift weapon. "First we move all the servants and workers to one room, whichever is the biggest one. Then we wait for fourth squad to arrive until we move them to the main building. The major doesn't want anyone to be harmed, anyone to escape, or any shots to be fired. If you do this right then we can stay there until morning."

Chani and the rest of the squad nodded. Many had wet clothes, a dry night might be the difference between pneumonia or being in perfect health.

The whole company spent the evening in silence, waiting for the dark. A couple of times Chani noticed that some started chatting or whispering to each other, only for someone of rank to come and shut them up. Fifty soldiers, even when whispering, could make a hell of a lot of noise. Chani spent much of the evening chewing on Princes Clover, a herb that was edible, but not very tasty and incredibly though. She'd learned chewing it was a good way trick the stomach into feeling full though.

She figured she must have dozed off when the next thing she noticed was the corporal waking her, and her mouth full of mushy Clover. She spat it out, then looked at the corporal. The corporal pointed up towards the ridge, where she saw some dark shapes. Looking closer, she identified her own squad, picked up her sharpened branch and started to silently move towards them.

No-one had given them any specific instructions, and while they were waiting for some command, they noticed that the first platoon was already a third of the way to the farm. The corporal cursed out loud, then signaled for her squad to start moving. Chani frowned, she hoped the corporal hadn't given them away. The corporal hadn't been very loud, but still. Their squad was the first to start moving in their platoon, but the others quickly followed after.

They were way behind the first platoon, but no-one broke into a run. It was dark and no-one wanted to trip on something and make noise that way. Chani felt more alive than she ever remembered feeling before. She felt like a fox, sneaking up on unsuspecting prey, with every mistake possibly disastrous. And being part of a whole company, it felt like she was part of an unstoppable and invisible deadly force, like some secret units the Empire was rumored to have.

She noticed first platoon getting to the farmstead, and that they stopped to wait. _Good._ If they'd gone in early all hell would have broken loose with the rest of the company still only halfway to their targets.

Finally everyone got to their targets, and Chani and her squad took positions outside a door. All the windows were closed with wooden shutters, so they could only hope someone was sleeping on the other side here instead of it being an storage of some sort. The other squads took positions outside the other doors, and everyone stopped and began looking at the platoon lieutenant who'd stayed behind in order to see the other platoons equally well. The sergeant held up his arm. When he lowered it, that would be the sign for action.

Chani blinked, then she suddenly noticed the lieutenants arm was down. _Shit._ She was suddenly fully alert.

Thom, one of the soldiers in her squad, ripped open the door, and Afidnes charged in, followed by Chani. Inside was a small vestibule with one door to the left and one door to the right. Afidnes went to the left, Chani to the right. She entered a kitchen, with a large stove on her left, a table in front of her, beside an opening for a window, some cupboards on the wall to her left, and something that looked like beds on the wall in front of her, on the other side of the table. She noticed something moving there, apparently they were waking up.

By the time she reached the beds, one of the occupants was already sitting up. "Huh?" was all he could say before Chani reached there and struck him down again with her branch.

"This is the Ever Victorious Army, and you will lie still!" she shouted at the bed-occupants. There were two beds, two occupants. She quickly glanced around to make sure there wasn't any bed or anyone she'd missed, but the only one there was Thom who'd charged in right after here.

"Wha... my head hurts," the bed-occupant, a man said.

Chani banged the bed with her branch. "Both of you, shut up and lie bloody still." She didn't want to take any chances. "And get your hands out where I can see them."

The man she'd hit slowly pulled his hands out from under the sheet, than placed them behind his head. He looked like he was about to say something, then thought better of it. Chani nodded, then turned to look at the next bed. A woman was laying there, hands still under the sheet. "Hands where I can see them," Chani said.

"How can I do that if I'm not allowed to move?" the woman in the bed said.

Chani frowned. What kind of an idiot was this. "You move your hands out slowly, then place them somewhere apart from each other. Then you lie still. We are the Seanchan army, and we are conquering this place right now."

The woman suddenly began to charge up towards Chani, shouting "Never!". Chani used her branch to hit the woman on the ribs, then punched her in the head. The woman fell down again, crying. The man in the other bed had tried to rise up too when he noticed something was happening, but Thom just pushed him down again. Thom was a big guy.

"Idiot," Chani said. "We are a bloody army, and there's a whole company here. Now lie still, both of you.

The man and woman in the beds didn't resist after that. They weren't silent, the woman was crying, but Chani felt they were calm enough. After a while the platoon sergeant came and asked them to bring the occupants outside. It was time to move all the people in this farm to the main building; they'd found a room where they could keep all the locals secure until the next morning.

They only needed a handful of men to guard the locals and watch the road, so Chani and her squad didn't have any duties until the next morning. They spent the next hour stuffing themselves with food from the pantry, then went to sleep. Chani chose the bed the woman who'd tried to resist had slept in. It was still warm, and Chani slept better than she had in a long time, stomach full and dry.


	7. Chapter 7

Boom. Farad used all his strength to destroy the hillside, using fire and earth to shatter the solid rock with a small strand of air to make the rocks violently fly off. The raw cliff-wall was a quarter of a mile high, but with the dust spreading it was impossible to see any of it except for the very top. Farad took control of saidin again, and forced another blast. And another. He lost count of how many until he noticed himself falling down on the ground, falling rocks still pounding the ground around him. Some hit the tied off-weave of compressed air he'd made to protect himself, falling rather uneventfully down on the ground beside him.

He turned his head to look up at the destruction he'd wrought. He wondered how many Seanchan would have died if he'd used that on them. Hundreds at least. Probably thousands. _If only I was where it mattered._ He remained laying down, waiting for the last rocks to fall down. And his strength to return.

"Blood and ashes, did you see that boys," one of the local miners said once he and his fellow miners finally dared come back. "half the mountain's gone."

"I think it's hardly one percent. All that smoke makes it just hard to see..."

Farad heard the sound of someone getting smacked on the head. "Shut up Perry. That's still more than you'll excavate in a lifetime."

"I keep saying, with the new inventions from the city this kind..." Perry started to say before getting smacked again.

Farad unraveled the shield of air he'd surrounded himself with, then turned over to sit up. He was still too tired to stand. _Maybe in a little while._ "Think I got that copper-vein you were talking about?" Copper was used to make bronze, which was used to make weapons, which to Farad meant he was doing something to help in the war effort. It was certainly better use of his abilities than trying to 'fix' that former damane.

"Oh yeah. The dark one take me if that wasn't the most awe... awe-inspiring, uh, you know, mining of all time," one of the miners said, gesturing wildly with his arms. "Want something to drink? We got some good Seanchan Isky from, uh, you know, before. The peacetime."

_Seanchan Isky_, Farad smiled. It would be a rare treat. Seanchan goods had always been rare in the free westlands, and even more so in the Black Tower. Having the stuff was enough to make you suspected of being a spy, even though the notion of any channeler working for the Seanchan had always struck Farad as odd.

"It's from their northwestern isles, and has a peculiar smoky taste," the miner continued, licking his lips. "We also have some local rye, in case you disapprove of Seanchan drink." The miner obviously expected some reply. Farad wondered why the miner was so keen on giving him an expensive drink, a Seanchan one at that. "Sir Asha'man?"

Farad looked the miner straight in the eyes. _Are you a Seanchan saboteur?_ He was definitely not going to drink first. "Yeah, sure. I'll go back for some rest first though. Do you want to meet at the pub? The one by the statue. The owner won't mind you bringing drink there." Farad felt clever. If the miner was working for the Seanchan, he would have to meet Farad in a time and place of Farad's choosing. The miner would drink first, so Farad could be sure nothing dangerous was in the drink. If the miner was working for the Seanchan, Farad would expose him. And if not, he would get a free drink and improve his own and the Black Towers reputation with the locals. "I like to do my business in the light. I believe five o'clock would be a good time."

The miner nodded, smiling. "Five o'clock is good. Now, dear sir, I have some grinding to do."

Farad nodded the miner farewell, letting the miner go and gather the ore Farad had blown to the ground. Farad himself sat around and waited for a bit, letting the air clear so he could get a good look at the destruction he'd caused to the hillside. He looked around to see where the stones had remained. In battle those stones might mean living Seanchan where there shouldn't be. He meditated on how the weaves should have gone to be perfect, then went back towards the village.

He walked through it, getting respectful, and maybe a bit fearful, greetings from the locals. He bought some warm bread and meatballs on a stick from Jan the trader, using all that power had made him hungry. He noticed a couple of the local women turning around to look at him, while trying to look as if they did nothing of the kind. Farad smiled. It was the black clothes, and the sense of danger. Oh, the stories he'd heard at the Black Tower.

Finally he made it to his quarters, the family house of Soldier Kimmo. He dusted off his shoes, then walked into the gloomy building. The large, main, room of the house was empty, with Kimmo and the former Damane sitting in the middle, looking at each other. It had been two weeks since they came here, and no-one had come to claim the Damane or to help them fix it._ Him,_ Farad corrected himself. They had been forced to move the furniture away after the Damane had begun to have angry fits. He didn't use the one power, for which Farad was grateful, but he was strong.

"Ah, the more prideful Marath'Damane returns. We felt your destruction. Don't you see how dangerous we all are?" the former Damane, who Farad had begun calling Justin, after an old childhood enemy, said.

"Oh shut up Justin." Farad said. At first the former damane had just cried, or been silent. Now he was either raving at them, or promising rich rewards if they returned him.

"But we could all end it now. Don't you see how much grief and destruction this war of yours will cause. And in the end you will either be dead or collared. It is inevitable," the damane, Justin, said. "But if you surrender now they'll be merciful. They won't need to use the pain on you. You could even beg for the good sul'dam, and they would mercifully grant your wish. Believe me. Please." The damane looked like he was about to cry.

Farad felt sick. He'd come to this village to help this man, but now he feared that the damane was way past the point of helping. _Would I end up like that if they captured me._ "Death is preferable to what they have done to you." Farad stared at the damane, not knowing what else to say. Justin stared back. Farad looked Justin straight in the eyes, "you will be fixed." Farad was too angry to accept any other outcome. All the damane would be fixed, and the Seanchan nightmare destroyed.

"I will not. I would be punished," Justin said, not turning his eyes away.

Farad smiled. He was already winning. Justin had called himself 'I', not 'this one', or 'Pompom'. Soon the Black Tower would be stronger, and the Seanchan weaker. "I? Justin, it seems to me you just admitted you are a person. Maybe, if you could be so kind as to tell me your name as well. Your true name."

Justin seemed shocked, then glanced around the room. Farad wondered if Justin was afraid that a sul'dam was around the corner, spying on them. No Seanchan appeared, and Justin crawled into a fetal position on the floor, and started muttering to himself. Farad walked closer so he could hear. "Damane obey, Pompom obey. Damane obey, Pompom obey..."

Farad put his mouth to Justins ear, and started whispering his own mantra. "You are a man, you are free. You are a man, you are not a slave. You are a man, you are not an obedient thing. You are a man..." He kept going until Justin fell asleep, or lost consciousness for some other reason. Then he thought about something he'd once heard, and kept talking. "You are a man..." for the rest of the night. He decided that he could have the drinks tomorrow. This was what was important.


End file.
